Two Pronunciation of "there"

[davemarc]

> From: Joe Varo <vjvaro at erie.net>
> To: Pynchon List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Subject: Two Pronunciation of "there"
> Date: Friday, February 07, 1997 1:14 PM
> 
> On Fri, 7 Feb 1997 grip at netcom.com wrote:
> 
> > If there is one there, it's like the proverbial group of monkeys 
> > typing away randomly and eventually coming up with "The broad backed 
> > hippopotamus..."
> > 
> > BTW, read the the first five words of the last sentence out loud. Did
you 
> > pronounce the first "there" differently from the second "there"?
> > 
> > grip
> > 
> 
> Hmmm....maybe a slightly different stress between the two instances, but
> not a completely different pronunciation.
> 
> Am I missing something here?
> 
Not sure what grip's getting at, but these things do tend to interest
linguists.  I think some of the difference has to do with preceding sounds
("If..." and "one...,") as well as context.  There's a "way" to pronounce
certain expressions.

davemarc